Laminated dining dish



Jan. 9, 1968 A. LAGOSTINA 3,352,504

y LAMINATED DINING DISH Filed Nov. 30, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 9, 196s Filed Nov. 50, 1965 A. LAGOSTINA LAMINATED DINING DISH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 ,2 4 65 8 i0 f2 f4 f6 i@ @00 m WJ..

INVENTOR.

a BY ma United States Patent O 3,362,604 LAMINATED DINHNG DISH Adriano Lagostina, 7 Via Borgogna, Milan, Italy Filed Nov. 30, 1965, Ser. No. 510,52l Claims priority, application Italy, Dec. 9, 1964, 26,285/ 64 8 Claims. (Cl. 2291.5)

ABSTRACT F THE DISCLGSURE A dining dish formed exclusively from a plurality of identical dish-shaped laminae of plastic material and each so thin as to easily bend and yield. The plurality of dish-shaped laminae being pressure-nested one on top of the other in a number exceeding a minimum number of nested laminae necessary to provide a unit resisting bending and yielding under load a dish is subjected to under use, whereby the uppermost laminae may be removed one by one after each use of the dish to provide a clean surface, while additional laminae may be added at the bottom when the minimum number is reached so as to maintain a usable dish while consecutively using the laminae forming the dish.

The present invention relates to dining dishes and has for its principal object to provide dishes of various formation such as are found in the usual set of dining dishes, in particular to provide regular dishes, dessert dishes and soup dishes, which are formed of a plurality of identical components of laminar material, detachably arranged in juxtaposed relationship and the uppermost one of which may be removed after the dishes have been used thus eliminating the necessity of washing or otherwise cleaning the article.

Dining dishes designed to eliminate the necessity of washing the article after the use thereof have been heretofore proposed, manufactured and sold. Dining dishes made of cardboard, wooden pulp and other cheap materials have been and are mass produced and are Widely used. The upper face of such known dish is generally made substantially impervious to liquid substances by several methods, either impregnating or otherwise coating the base material with resins, or lining said face with an extremely thin layer of impervious material such as a very thin aluminum foil, impregnated paper, thin plastic sheet and so on. In general, it may be said that manufacture of such dining dishes involves a search of a more or less favourable compromise between the cost of any individual serviceable dish unit, that is the very cost of use of the article for one course of the meal. It is obvious that the desirable low meal-cost leads to the use of an extremely poor and not appreciated article.

Dining dishes or similar articles each including a plurality of removable laminations which are detachably secured to a base dish or receptacle, so that a clean surface may be provided upon removing the uppermost lamination after each meal course, have been proposed too. The base dish and the rather complicated means provided for detachably securing each individual lamination to the said base dish at the outer edge thereof lead also to a relatively high and generally not acceptable cost of the compound unit. In addition, provided that such laminations, as being extremely thin and of rather poor material for evident economy purpose, cannot individually possess the most desirable property to positively resist to the stresses and the cutting and notching actions exerted by the usually used cover means, in particular as pretty hard meats are 'being cut. Examples of the latter type of dining dishes have been disclosed and shown in the Patents Nos. 1,574,- 259 and 2,542,413 of the United States of America.

3,362,604 Patented Jan. 9, 1968 ICC . self-supporting stacked dish lor plate, provided that:

Each element is made of and from a plastic sheet which is quite impervious to moisture and has a highly polished upper face;

Each element, While being very thin and therefore consisting of very economical material, is of thickness such to ensure that the uppermost element of the stacked dish can resist to the puncturing or cutting actions from regular use of a fork and a knife as conventionally used for a table cover;

All elements are shaped to include an essentially planar centre portion and a skirted upand out-flared edge portion, said edge portion comprising curved laminar material.

Thereore, the laminated or stacked dining dish produced in accordance with the present invention consists of a pile or pack of superimposed and juxtaposed identically formed and shaped elements, said pile generally comprising at least ten and preferably more than fifteen elements. Each element is formed and preferably punched olf thin polished sheet plastic material which is essentially hard and resilient, which possess excellent moisture-proof properties, and which is capable to resist to the action by conventionally handled cover forks and knives. Each element is produced from laminated plastic material comprised in the group consisting of shockproof polystyrene having a relatively low rubber component content, such as 5 percent butadiene, or of chloro-polyethylene copolymers, or of a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer having a low acetate content, or of a plastied polypropylene resin, or of nitrocellulose plastied with camphor based plastiiier, said laminated material having a thickness cornprised between 0.05 and 0.12 millimeter, the use of 0.08 to 0.10 millimeter thick polished laminated polystyrene including 5 percent butadiene being preferred.

The preferred shape of each element is such to comprise a center fiat planar portion having a diameter substantially half of the overall diameter of the element, a curved up-turned skirt portion the concavity thereof is 11p-facing, and an edge portion including at least one `and preferably two small `down-facing concavities.

It has been found that a dining dish formed by stack- -ing a number of such individual laminar elements has a resistance to bending and a load supporting property which is surprisingly greater than the product of the corresponding property of one individual element by the number of the elements comprised in the stacked plate or dish, `and therefore such stacked dish embodies a quite serviceable unit from which, upon use, the uppermost element thereof may be readily removed to restore the unit for use, and to which a number of similar elements may be also readily added from time to time for restoring the unit as to its most desirable thickness and self-supporting condition.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art as this description proceeds, and the characteristics of the invention are set forth -in the appended claims. The novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts thereof will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, forming an essential component of this disclosure, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 perspcctively and -d-iagrammatically shows a supply of laminar elements as in their stored condition;

FIGURE 2 similarly shows a number of dish units and an individual element as being removed therefrom;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of a stacked unit as taken olf from a supply pile, and a fragmentary side view of one element as being removed from said unit, the items of FIG. 3 being designed for producing a dining plate for essentially solid meats;

FIGURE 4 is a similar view showing a dish unit and a single element shaped for providing a deep or soup dish;

FIGURE 5A and FIGURE 5B diagrammatically show arrangements of units as provided for carrying out resistance tests thereof; and

FIGURE 5C is a graph wherein the readings from said test have been plotted.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 4 inclusive; there are shown elements E and E of laminar plastic material as above described and shaped to form plain or flat and respectively deep or so'up dish units U and respectively U upon piling-up at least ten and preferably more than fifteen identical individual elements. Such identical elements may be stored, packaged and transported as stacked into a pile P including a large number of elements, such as one hundred or several hundreds of identical elements. Such piled elements are `not connected to each other and they can be either individually or in groups removed from the supply pile P. The units intended for use are obtained simply by removing stacks of elements from said pile and, upon use and upon removal of the uppermost element from each used unit, such units can be superimposed again on said pile for saving space and better protection of the upper face of each individual element.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each laminar element includes a center planar portion l@ or l and a flared or tapered skirt portion thereabout. Said skirt portion comprises an inner upwardly curved part 12 or 12', an outer upwardly curved part 14 or 14 and an edge part 16 or 16 including two narrow down-facing corrugations. The shape of said elements is such that a proper full engagernent of the superimposed elements is ensured, that is the said skirt portion 1.2-16 or 12X-16 does not include parts forming an excessively stepped angle with the flat center portion 10 or 10', respectively.

Several tests have been devised and made for ascertain ing the properties of the stacked dishes provided according to this invention. Some of said tests will be hereinafter discussed with reference to FIGS. A to 5C. The curves in t-he graph of FIG. 5C indicate the results of said tests in terms of yielding in millimeters, readable on the ordinate of the graph, as a function of the number of the elements combined in the tested units, said number, indicated as Np, being readable on the abscissa of same graph.

1st group of tests Units U and U including a variable number of elements E and E shaped as shown in FIGS. 3 and respectively 4 have been formed by pressing of polystyrene including 5% butadiene sheet material 0.08 millimeter thick. Such units had an overall diameter of 230 millimeters about and included a center portion and respectively 10 of 110 millimeters about. Such units have been located over rigid s-upports S' spaced at an interval I of 12() millimeters, as shown in FIG. 5A. A rod having a slightly convex lower face has been located over the edge of the unit, parallel to the corners or edges of supports S and at the middle of said interval I to provide a load P of grams.

The yielding has been measured -in terms of lowering of said edge where loaded from the level thereof when unloaded. Ourves A and B in the graph indicate the yielding of Iunits U (soup-dishes) and respectively U (plain dishes or plates).

For comparison, numbers of superimposed planar disks made of the same plast-ic material have been similarly supported and tested. Curve C indicates the result of said comparison test and the somewhat self-supportancy of the piles of planar disks appears to be the result of a substan tially frictional engagement of the disks.

2nd group of tests Units U and U provided as above have been arranged on supports S" spaced at an interval I of 200 millimeters and loaded by a load P of 3i() grams. Therefore the units were supported at their very edges only, as shown in FIG. 5B.

The yielding of units U and U are indicated by curves D and respectively E. Units U could substantially resist to such test if consisting of over twenty elements E only.

3rd group of tests The same units have been supported upon a flat rigid surface such as of a dining table and loaded as above described, but making use of a weight P of l0() grams. Such tests are indicative of the ability to sustain a regular cover piece as conventionally resting on the dish edge. The yieldings of units U' and U, where loaded, are indicated by curves F and respectively C.

4th group of tests The units U' have been supported as above described with reference to the 2nd group of tests and shown in FIG. 5B, and varying amounts of liquids have been poured thereinto. Such tests are indicative of the possibility of carrying about loaded soup dishes while sustained by both hands at two diametrally opposed locations of the edges thereof. Curve H indicates the yielding of the units (measured at the centre of their at bottoms) when loaded with grams of water and curve I indicates the yieldings of same units when loaded with 250 grams of water.

Generally considering the above described tests and the results thereof, it will be apparent that all curves shown in the graph include a very steep portion at the lowest number Np of elements, while the same curves flatten as the said number increases. This is a proof that upon superimposing a relevant number of the described laminar elements the resistance and the self-supportance of the laminated units increase at a very greater rate than it might be expected by simply considering the number of the superimposed components.

Assuming that a yielding of one millimeter is hardly noticeable in the actual use of dining dishes, it is apparent that by superimposing ten or more elements to form a dish according to the invention, a perfectly usable dish is provided in the most simple and economical manner. In particular, by forming a deep or soup dish consisting of a unit U formed by at least sixteen elements E', a deep dish which may be actually handled when regularly loaded is provided.

The laminated dishes of the invention are of clean and very agreeable appearance. By forming the same with white and essentially translucent or semi-transparent laminar plastic material, the new dishes look substantially as conventional china or glazed ceramic ones. The downturned edges thereof prevent infiltration of liquid substances between the various superimposed elements and add an improved appearance to the units.

Briefly dealing now with the economical side of the invention, while it can be realized that to provide one dish a relevant number of elements is needed, the actual cost of use of such dish will correspond to the cost of one element only, as, when further elements are wanted to restore the dish at its more desirable thickness, all

y remaining elements are made use too.

In addition, while the above indicated numbers (at least ten and preferably more than fifteen) of the elements needed to provide an actually serviceable dish indicates the lower limit to be preferably but not strictly necessarily considered, no upper limit can be actually given. If a desired dish formed of more than twenty elements may be formed, and it may be said that the upper limit is given only by the supply available and by the desire met to handle a too thick and thereof bad-looking article. As no upper limitation exists, a rather thick unit may be however desired and readily provided, according to the invention, when an exceptional load is to be put into and carried about in the dish, such thick article not leading to more cost of use as all elements included thereinto, except the uppermost one, can be recovered for further use thereof.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularly, it is to be understood that several changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as delined in the appended claims.

Having now described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent of the United States of America is:

1. A dining dish consisting of a plurality of identical dish-shaped laminae each of which has a substantially planar center portion and an upwardly and outwardly flared skirt portion including inclined parts, each of said dish-shaped laminae formed from moisture-proof, cutand puncture-resistant plastic material and each being thin as to bend and yield under the load of the contents it is subjected to during use, said plurality of dish-shaped laminae being pressure-nested one on top of the other with the top surface of each dish-shaped lamina, except the uppermost, completely engaging the bottom surface of the lamina superimposed thereon so as to stick thereto, said plurality of laminae exceeding a minimum number of nested laminae necessary to form a unit resisting bending and yielding under the load of the contents it is subjected to during use, the uppermost laminae being removable for disposal one by one after each use of the dish to provide a clean surface while additional laminae may be added when, due to removal of the uppermost laminae for disposal, said minimum number is reached so as to maintain a usable dish.

2. A dining dish as dened in claim 1, wherein each of the laminae has a thickness not exceeding 0.12 mm.

3. A dining dish as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said laminae has a thickness of between 0.05-O.l2 mm.

4. A dining dish as defined in claim 2, wherein each 0f said laminae is formed from plastic material consisting of polystyrene having a low butadiene content.

5. A dining dish as dened in claim 2, wherein each of said laminaeis formed from plastic material consisting of chloro-polyethylene copolymer.

6. A dining dish as dened in claim 2, wherein each of said laminae is formed from plastic material consisting of vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer having a low acetate content.

7. A dining dish as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said laminae is formed from plastic material consisting of plastied polypropylene resin.

8. A dining dish as deined in claim 2, wherein each of said laminae is formed from plastic material consisting of nitrocellulose plastiiied with a camphor plastiiier.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,574,259 2/ 1926 SarlT 220-65 2,542,413 2/ 1951 Ibsch 220-65 2,588,727 3/ 1952 Howard 220-65 3,076,579 2/1963 Kuhlman 220-65 3,099,377 7/ 1963 Metzler et a1 229-25 3,104,776 9/ 1963 Bostrom 229-25 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Examiner. 

